School news 12th November 2010
13 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in Report
To launch this new part of the website we provide a report of the visit of Dr Caley and Mr Hulme to Mlozi School in Malawi. Below this report you can find extracts from other areas of the website which will provide information about the development of our GLOBAL LINK. Currently this has resulted in a reciprocal visit of staff between the two schools.
For the last two weeks of October, Dr Caley and Mr Hulme visited Malawi to meet up with Mr Chimtali and Ms Ajawa who had visited Gairloch in August. For Dr Caley this was her third visit to Mlozi LEA School; in contrast, this was Mr Hulme’s first visit to anywhere outside Europe. Time was spent working with ‘learners’, especially those in the later years in this primary school. Pupils in these classes varied in age from around ten to eighteen, with progression between classes dependent on success in the end of year exams. Despite the many problems, often from unexpected sources, the children had a great desire to learn and took every opportunity even when teachers were not present. This was one of the problems; teachers were often, even in the two weeks of the visit, called away to meetings or to work for the Government in enrolling electors. With no other teachers to call on or money to pay them, the school is frequently without adequate numbers of staff.
The school has changed greatly since Dr Caley’s last visit. Two new blocks have been built providing four lockable classrooms and two offices. The rest of the school, comprising three blocks of two rooms, await doors and, in some case, steps into the rooms. The recent improvements now allows for the storage and display of resources and it is hoped that Gairloch High School will continue to help increase the provision of these.
Time was spent working with the teachers to help improve the educational provision. The staff were keen to hear from their visitors and readily accepted their suggestions; it is intended to keep in touch to check if the advice is being taken up!
Mr Chimtali took to Scottish country dancing on his visit here and one of the tasks given to his visitors was to teach the youngsters a dance. The Orcadian Strip the Willow was chosen and the learners had soon grasped it. Not content with one dance, Mr Chimtali insisted on another so the Military Two Step was taught (by two novice dance instructors!). The learners were happy to turn up after school to practise and even came along on a Sunday afternoon and into the darkness of the early evening. The culmination of this dancing was to perform in front of dignitaries and other schools at the National Day of Education at an adjacent school. Mr Chimtali intends to further the Scottish dancing skills of his school and has been seen teaching his wife outside his house.
In addition to the professional aspects of the visit, there was time to visit a number of events. The community came together to welcome the visitors from Scotland. The appreciation of this visit was clearly displayed. There were two ceremonies for the installation of chiefs and very colourful affairs these were. One included the use of a Ross County scarf! As well as these, Dr Caley and Mr Hulme were privileged to be invited to a memorial ceremony for a chief who had died last year. This included ‘gule wamkulu’ or ‘big dance’ where people, with faces hidden and dressed in elaborate costumes, performed a variety of dances. One man ran fire up and down his body while another did acrobatics on a five metre pole placed at most fifteen centimetres in the ground. A truly amazing spectacle. Mr Hulme took the opportunity at the weekends and afternoons to explore and map the district surrounding the school. His guides, four learners from Standards 7 and 8, the upper classes, willingly instructed him in farming techniques and uses of trees and plants.
Mr Chimtali and his family hosted both visitors in his new house, built along with the new rooms in the school. It was fascinating to join in rural Malawian life. With no electricity, it was marvellous how food was produced and how clothes were washed and ironed to such a consistently high standard. The shower, from buckets of hot and cold water mixed in a large mug, was always welcomed at the beginning and end of the day when temperatures did not fall below 21 deg C at night and reached more than 30 deg C in the shade through the day.
Photographs and video clips are available by clicking here.
School news 15th October 2010 EXTRACT
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Malawi Visit – By the time you read this Mr Hulme and Dr Caley should be making our reciprocal visit to Malawi to the school of Mr Winnex Chimtali. This is our continuing part in the Global Link project. They will be in Malawi for two weeks and we will report on their progress in later issues.
School news 17th September 2010 EXTRACT
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Crofting Study – In Geography the first years are looking at crofting as part of a joint farming project with our link school in Malawi. 1B visited Mrs. Fraser’s croft in Big Sand and there is a visit planned for 1A. As well as asking lots of questions about crafting, the pupils enjoyed meeting the pigs, ducks, cat and sheep and seeing the machinery and tools used on the croft. They also went up to see the old fank, where the sheep used to be dipped. Thanks to Mrs. Fraser for this opportunity. Click here to see some photos.
Report on the visit of the Malawian Teachers
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Click here to read the report of the visit published in the school news (September 2010).
School news 3rd September 2010 EXTRACT
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Visitors from Malawi – By the time this is published Mr. Chimtali and Ms. Ajawa will be on their way home to Malawi. Our guests assure us that they had a wonderful and productive time in Gairloch learning about our teaching methods as well as our culture. We have certainly enjoyed developing our friendship with Winnex and Sarah.
They were apparently warned before they left Africa that Westerners are not generally a friendly people. That has certainly not been their experience and they have been touched by the friendship they have encountered in Gairloch from all members of the community. While entertained royally on each day of their visit, special mention must be made of the Community Ceilidh last Saturday in the Community Hall. Both primary and secondary pupils provided a very high standard of music and song throughout the evening. This was complimented by dance with music provided by the Gairloch Ceilidh Band. Mr Chimtali and Ms Ajawa (along with a couple of conscripts) demonstrated a dance from their homeland.
This event was a great opportunity for parents and staff to come together and celebrate our growing link with Mlozi School but also demonstrated the strength of our own community. Mr. Port would like to thank everyone who was involved in making the evening such a success including members of the Parent Council for organising the refreshments.
Around 150 people attended and the raffle provided a donation of £300.40 for Highland Hospice. In October Dr. Caley and Mr. Hulme will visit Malawi.
School news 25th June 2010 EXTRACT
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Visitors from Malawi – In August, shortly after the start of the new term, we anticipate that two teachers from our Link School in Malawi will be visiting Gairloch for about 2 weeks; the Head Teacher, Mr Winnex Chimtali, and the Depute, Miss Sarah Ajawa. This opportunity follows our successful application for a Global School Partnerships grant for reciprocal visits and other fund raising. The purpose of the visit is to develop the link between our schools by enabling us to discuss, plan and initiate joint work with a global theme. It is also an opportunity for our pupils to learn more about life in a developing country and for us to engage in professional dialogue with our colleagues. Our visitors will be spending a large proportion of their time in the High School, but will also visit some or all of the Primary Schools.
During the visit, we are planning a community ceilidh to give them a real Scottish welcome to Wester Ross. This will be in Gairloch Community Hall on the evening of Saturday 28th August (after the Gairloch Show) and is intended to provide an opportunity for pupils, staff, parents and other members of the community to meet socially with our visitors.
They will also be meeting with some community groups. Already, the ATC, the Youth Football Club and others have expressed interest. If any other community groups would like to meet with our visitors, please get in touch with Dr Caley at the school.
School news 28th May 2010 EXTRACT
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Malawi Link – The Parent Council held a Soup and Pudding lunch on Saturday 22nd May to raise money towards the visit of two teachers from our Link School in Malawi in August (if all goes to plan!). Thank you to everyone who came to support this – it raised the fantastic sum of £354. Especial thanks to the members of the Parent Council and others who made the delicious soups and puddings and helped on the day, and to the pupils who came along to help set up and serve at the tables.
Roxanne Ramsay has also been raising money for the Malawi Link for the past year for the Volunteering section of her Duke of Edinburgh’s gold award. She has raised £250 in the last few months for the visit of the Malawian teachers, and this is in addition to the £422 she raised last year to help with repairs to the school buildings in Malawi. This is a tremendous achievement by Roxanne, especially as she has also been raising money for Project Trust this year. Roxanne was presented with a Young Quality Scot Award earlier this year in further recognition of her work in the community.
